Just One Yesterday
by Zerafall
Summary: Yukinoshita Yukino befriends a strangely mature, dour boy with dead-fish-eyes.


The boy had shifty eyes and a slouching, lazy posture. His hands were in his pockets, and his lips had the curl of a habitual frown.

_Ah, _she thought, _this must be one of the ruffians that Mother told me never to associate with._

Above, the clouds were tinted an ominous, murky grey. Perhaps it would rain today.

At her feet, the kitten rolled over and licked its paws, mewling softly. Her heart melted at the sight of it.

The ruffian glanced at the clouds above speculatively. He licked his lips.

"Who are you?" There was a strange undertone in that question that she couldn't quite identify. Kneeling next to the kitten, she contemplated whether she should answer or not. In the end, her ingrained sense of curiosity beat out any caution she had towards the boy.

"Yukinoshita Yukino," she answered, hand reaching out to pet the kitten. She stopped midway, suddenly unsure. From the periphery of her vision, she could see the nameless boy staring at her, valiantly fighting to keep the frown on his face. She blushed in embarrassment.

She frowned up at him, glaring like her Mother when Father did something to annoy her. Unlike Father, the boy didn't seem too cowed. He walked over and knelled on the other side of the kitten, a hand reaching out to scratch it behind the ears. The kitten purred, writhing as it rolled over, closer to the boy. Farther from her.

_This means war_, she fumed. She was a Yukinoshita! This...this ruffian wouldn't steal the kitten away from her!

Mustering all the confidence her indignation generated, she tried to rub the cute feline's belly. The little things wriggled, making these adorably small-sounding purrs. Completely forgetting about her aforementioned declaration to snatch victory from the jaws of the boy still scratching the kitten's ears, she continued contentedly rubbing the kitten's soft underbelly. She was fascinated by the texture of its fur, often rubbing tufts of it under her index finger and thumb.

She probably would've continued playing with the cat, were it not for the sudden feeling of something wet hitting her nape. Looking up, the clouds had darkened, and a moderately strong wind had blown in, ruffling her clothes and making the kitten mewl in discontent. She frowned.

"You should probably get back home," said the boy, standing up, "you _do_ know your way back home, right?"

Yukinoshita huffed, standing up as well, but not before sending the kitten still on the ground one last mournful look. She would've thought its mother would be close by, but it appeared the kitten was something of an orphan. Alone, in this weather. How terrible.

"Yes, I do. I'm not an idiot," she said. The boy muttered something under his breath, but did not reply. "Regardless, it appears we have to part ways."

"You know," the boy commented, a mocking twist to his lips, "for a five-year-old, you're pretty verbose."

Her brows twitched, knitting together as she grit her teeth. This! Ruffian! Was! Infuriating!

"I am nine, if you must know." She sniffed. As they talked, the intensity of the rain had increased, droplets of water staining a minuscule portion of their clothes. "I tire of this conversation." Defying her expectations, the boy did not seem angry or otherwise distressed at her proclamation, merely eyeing her with amusement.

She flushed. Talking to this boy was like talking to a younger, even more mocking, male, dead-fish-eyed version of her elder sister. That is, he seemed to have an uncanny ability to make her feel stupid.

"By all means, no one's forcing you to talk to me," the boy nodded to her, stepping aside and walking away for several paces, "see ya."

As the boy was walking away, she glanced back to the kitten shivering in the cold. It had curled up into a little ball to protect itself. Looking at it made her gut fall, and she pursed her lips - considering. She could take it in...? Atleast for a night. Then she thought of Mother, and blanched at the thought. Maybe...no that would never work. The boy didn't even know her, and he didn't seem the type to be kind. But...

"Wait," she said, and the boy did so, glancing back at her with a raised brow. "You..."

"Me...?"

"Can you...?"

The boy laughed, the action coming so far-out of left field, that Yukinoshita blinked, forgetting to be offended at his impertinence.

"Can you get to the point already? I'd rather not enact a skit out in the rain, y'know?"

She glowered at him, and then collected herself. Looking at him with eyes that she was often told resembled cut sapphires, she was satisfied to note that for the first time, the boy looked taken-aback. She gestured to the kitten.

"I would be grateful if you could take care of this creature."

The boy's eyes twitched, and he looked at her in abject disbelief. She stared blankly back, her mien determined and dignified. She liked to think that if Mother saw, then she would be proud.

"You've gotta be kidding me." The boy palmed his face.

"No. I am most assuredly not," she replied.

"You know my parents will be pissed, right?"

"I do not know enough about your parents to guess at their reactions, but most likely - yes."

The boy stared at her. And then he sighed, muttering something to himself. Walking over to the kitten, he picked it up, gently cradling it in his arms. It purred, and curled up closer to him. He pressed it to his chest and looked at it with surprisingly gentle eyes. She revised her opinion - he was most definitely a kind person.

"I like cats," he said, to the void of silence interrupted only by the intermittent sound of stutter-fire-rain splattering against the sidewalk.

"They are very adorable, yes." She nodded, and then started walking away. "Goodbye," she said, over her shoulder at the boy. "And thank you."

The boy did not reply, but as the seconds passed, she heard the faint sounds of his footsteps as he walked in the opposite direction.

_We will most likely never meet again_, thought Yukinoshita, feeling strangely mournful.


End file.
